St John Ambulance launches defibrillators to boost bystander rescues

St John Ambulance has launched two groundbreaking defibrillators — the G5 and G3 Elite — aimed to improve bystander participation during sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) emergencies. Both defibrillators use audio technology to guide first-time users to correctly and quickly apply defibrillation.

In an SCA emergency, lives are saved by people who are brave enough to use a defibrillator, often for the first time. In Australia, 33,000 suffer from SCA each year and, currently, 9% will not survive. A person surviving an SCA will depend on them receiving instant CPR and defibrillation within minutes. The shocking reality is that only 4% in Victoria receive defibrillation help from bystanders. It is St John Ambulance’s mission to improve SCA survival by increasing bystander use of defibrillators to 50% nationwide by 2025.

Also concerning is that the SCA survival rate decreased by half during the pandemic due to COVID-19 safety protocols delaying paramedics by only two minutes. Every minute counts, and if we rely on paramedics alone to save SCA victims, help may come too late. This is why it’s crucial for workplaces to be fitted with defibrillators and ensure people are comfortable using them.

Key benefits of G3

• RescueCoach guides the user through the entire rescue with clear voice and text prompts.
• The paediatric pads automatically alter the shock capacity needed for paediatric victims.
• A direct connect cable downloads up to 60 minutes of rescue data and stores multiple rescues.
• The automated external defibrillator (AED) combines real-time CPR feedback with user-paced rescue prompting.
• Rescue prompts and critical rescue information is displayed on a backlit text display.

Key benefits of G5

• RescueCoach guides the user through each critical step of the rescue (including CPR instruction) with clear voice and text prompts.
• 90 minutes of rescue data available via USB data download.
• Paediatric pads automatically alter the shock capacity needed for paediatric victims.
• Automatic self-testing conducts daily self-tests on pads, battery and internal circuitry to ensure your AED is always Rescue Ready.
• Intellisense CPR feedback gives distinct text and voice corrective CPR prompts for rate, depth and recoil.